NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Wednesday inaugurated its Rover Operations Center (ROC), a center of excellence for current and future surface missions to the Moon and Mars. During the launch event, leaders from the commercial space and AI industries toured the facilities, participated in working sessions with JPL mission teams, and learned more about the first-ever use of generative AI by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover team to create future routes for the robotic explorer.
The center was established to integrate and innovate across JPL’s planetary surface missions while simultaneously forging strategic partnerships with industry and academia to advance U.S. interests in the burgeoning space economy. The center builds on JPL’s 30-plus years of experience developing and operating Mars surface missions, including humanity’s only helicopter to fly at Mars as well as the only two active planetary surface missions.
Michael Thelen of JPL’s Exploration Systems Office discusses the newly inaugurated Rover Operations Center in JPL’s historic Space Flight Operations Facility on Dec. 10.
“The Rover Operations Center is a force multiplier,” said JPL Director Dave Gallagher. “It integrates decades of specialized knowledge with powerful new tools, and exports that knowledge through partnerships to catalyze the next generation of Moon and Mars surface missions. As NASA’s federally funded research and development center, we are chartered to do exactly this type of work — to increase the cadence, the efficiency, and the impact for our transformative NASA missions and to support the commercial space market as they take their own giant leaps.”
Genesis of ROC
Through decades of successful Mars rover missions, JPL has continuously improved the unique autonomy, robotic capabilities, and best practices that have been demanded by increasingly complex robotic explorers. The ROC offers an accessible centralized structure to facilitate future exploration efforts.
Rover prototype ERNEST (Exploration Rover for Navigating Extreme Sloped Terrain) demonstrates some of its advanced mobility and autonomy capabilities in JPL’s Mars Yard.
“Our rovers are lasting longer and are more sophisticated than ever before. The scientific stakes are high, as we have just witnessed with the discovery of a potential biosignature in Jezero Crater by the Perseverance mission. We are starting down a decade of unprecedented civil and commercial exploration at the Moon, which will require robotic systems to assist astronauts and support lunar infrastructure,” said Matt Wallace, who heads JPL’s Exploration Systems Office. “Mobile vehicles like rovers, helicopters, and drones are the most dynamic and challenging assets we operate. It’s time to take our game up a notch and bring everybody we can with us.”
Future forward
A key focus of the ROC is on the more rapid infusion of higher-level autonomy into surface missions through partnerships with the AI and commercial space industries. The objective is to catalyze change to deliver next-generation science and exploration capabilities for the nation and NASA.
Håvard Grip, chief pilot of NASA’s Mars Ingenuity Helicopter — the only aircraft to fly on another planet — offers insights into aerial exploration of the Red Planet at the lab’s 25-Foot Space Simulator, which subjects spacecraft to the harsh conditions of space.
As NASA’s only federally funded research and development center, JPL has been evolving vehicle autonomy since the 1990s, when JPL began developing Sojourner, the first rover on another planet. Improvements to vehicle independence over the years have included the evolution of autonomy in sampling activities, driving, and science-target selection. Most recently, those improvements have extended to the development of Perseverance’s ability to autonomously schedule and execute many commanded energy-intensive activities, like keeping warm at night, as it sees fit. This capability allows the rover to conserve power, which it can reallocate in real time to perform more science or longer drives.
With the explosion of AI capabilities, the ROC rover team is leaving no Mars stone unturned in the hunt for future efficiencies.
“We had a small team complete a ‘three-week challenge,’ applying generative AI to a few of our operational use cases. During this challenge, it became clear there are many opportunities for AI infusion that can supercharge our capabilities,” said Jennifer Trosper, ROC program manager at JPL. “With these new partnerships, together we will infuse AI into operations to path-find the next generation of capabilities for science and exploration.”
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During the ROC’s inauguration, attendees toured JPL operations facilities, including where the rover drivers plan their next routes. They also visited JPL’s historic Mars Yard, which reproduces Martian terrain to test rover capabilities, and the massive 25-Foot Space Simulator that has tested spacecraft from Voyagers 1 and 2 to Perseverance to America’s next generation of lunar landers. A panel discussion explored the historical value of rovers and aerial systems like the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter in planetary surface exploration. Also discussed was the promise of a new public-private partnership opportunity across a virtual network of operational missions.
Attendees were briefed on tiered engagement options for partners, from mission architecture support to autonomy integration, testing, and operations. These opportunities extend to science and human precursor robotic missions, as well as to human-robotic interaction and spacewalks for astronauts on the Moon and Mars.
A highlight for event participants came when the Perseverance team showcased how the ROC’s generative AI can assist rover planners in creating future routes for the rover. The AI analyzed high-resolution orbital images of Jezero Crater and other relevant data and then generated waypoints that kept Perseverance away from hazardous terrain.
Managed for NASA by Caltech, JPL is the home of the Rover Operations Center (ROC).
To learn more about the ROC, visit: